[tex-live] Basic questions for MacTeX installation on a MacBook Air.

[Haines Brown]

I know nothing of Mac machines, but gave my wife a MacBook Air. She just
finished a term paper using Page, and that application was such a
disappointment that I'm moving her over to TeXMac. I've been using
AUCTeX with LaTeX on a Linux/debian machine for some years.

I'm having a problem installing MacTeX on her machine, probably because
I'm so ignorant about the Mac. I went to the TUG/MacTeX website and
downloaded the MacTeX package to her machine. This is where I ran into
trouble. The download never seems to complete. I assume that the 2.5
Gb file named MacTex.pkg.download is the equivalent on my machine of
MacTex.pkg.part and indicates a download in process.

Initially my wife's machine said it would take 30 hours to download, and
its now been over 24 hours. These are obviously wrong times even for a
2.5 Gb file. I downloaded the same file to my own machine on the same
network without a problem. Rather than report diminishing hours to go,
it just stopped reporting anything.

My first question is whether I'm correct to assume that the download
hung because the .download extension should have disappeared upon
completion. Does its presence mean the download failed? I just
started another download, but with the second one there is no indication
at all of the hours to go. 

I don't know how to access a terminal and if I can issue a command from
it to list files with their sizes to see the progress of a download.  I
know there is an internet connection. On a MacBook is the download
suspended if you close the lid for a sleep?

Where should the MacTex.pkg file be placed? I assume that it should be
moved out of the Download folder, but to where? One reason I ask is
because it is beginning to look like I'll have to put the file on a key
and copy it over to my wife's machine from the key. Does the MacTeX
installation program require the .pkg file to be in the Downloads
folder?

Haines Brown